Kenan, a 35-year-old tollbooth clerk, has a remarkable ability to accommodate passing drivers faster than any of his colleagues and to never let his focus be distracted. He has thus earned the nickname “Robot”, a characterization which he reinforces with his severe, inexpressive attitude. Returning from work, Kenan goes home, where he lives with his ill and oppressive father. Not even the efforts of kindhearted neighbor Nurgul manage to soothe him and make him smile. As the walls around Kenan start to close in on him, he regresses into his memories, unintelligible monologues and fantasies about a beautiful woman who drives by the toll station every day. Moving from the personal to the universal, Tolga Karaçelik makes a comment about the “prison-box” that stands as a metaphor for contemporary man’s caged life. Carefully and attentively, he listens to and highlights the details of the protagonist’s repetitive daily life, keeping a balance between the realistic representation of his monotonous and asphyxiating routine and the dreamlike dimension of his fantasies.
|